Cancer outcomes comparison

Interest in New Zealand’s access to cancer medicines prompted PHARMAC to commission research assessing potential health gains achievable from cancer medicines currently funded in Australia but not in New Zealand.

We found that New Zealand funded 101 cancer medicines, and Australia funded 110.

This included 88 cancer medicines that New Zealand and Australia both funded.  We also found that both countries funded cancer medicines that the other didn’t: Australia funded 22 medicines that weren’t funded in NZ, and NZ funded 13 medicines that weren’t funded in Australia.

Most of the additional medicines funded in Australia but not in New Zealand do not offer health gains that would be considered clinically meaningful by international cancer specialists in recent research. Some of the medicines offer poorer health outcomes than the established NZ funded standard of care.

Few of the cancer medicines funded in Australia but not in NZ offer clinically meaningful gains for patients. PHARMAC has received funding applications for many (but not all) of these medicines, and they are undergoing assessment and consideration for funding alongside treatments for other conditions.